Image is of a solar park in Cuba, donated last year by China, sourced from this article.
To be honest, I don’t have much to say about ongoing geopolitical events that hasn’t already been said in previous threads (e.g. with India/Pakistan, Trump/Putin, and of course occupied Palestine), so this is more of a “news roundup” preamble for this week.
As we all know, the US (and the imperial core generally) has only three permitted international actions: sanctions, color revolution, and war. None of these have been going well lately, but sanctions are in particularly dire straits right now. Three examples from the last week or so:
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The EU is on its 17th sanctions package, apparently, which is surprising, as I thought they were on their 76th or something. It apparently targets Russia’s shadow fleet of oil tankers, but I don’t think anybody actually gives a shit because we all know it won’t achieve anything, so, moving on…
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The head of Nvidia (as well as many others) have come out and said that the US chip export controls on China have failed, remarking that China’s internal motivations to develop alternatives are strong and proceeding rapidly, especially as China’s number of skilled scientists is only growing. Nvidia has said that they had a 95% share of China’s AI chip market in 2020 or so, but now they only have 50%.
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Lastly, an interesting one: Iran has received its first set of railway shipment of solar panels from China, and there is hope for accelerating shipments of even more products. Myself and many others have predicted a decoupling of Iran from the West and towards China and Russia (especially if any Western-built product could have Israeli devices implanted into them, such as with the pager terrorist attack on Lebanon’s doctors), and having a strong link with China will be a necessary step for Iran and their allies to continue their offensives against Israel.
Last week’s thread is here. The Imperialism Reading Group is here.
Please check out the RedAtlas!
The bulletins site is here. Currently not used.
The RSS feed is here. Also currently not used.
Israel-Palestine Conflict
Sources on the fighting in Palestine against Israel. In general, CW for footage of battles, explosions, dead people, and so on:
UNRWA reports on Israel’s destruction and siege of Gaza and the West Bank.
English-language Palestinian Marxist-Leninist twitter account. Alt here.
English-language twitter account that collates news.
Arab-language twitter account with videos and images of fighting.
English-language (with some Arab retweets) Twitter account based in Lebanon. - Telegram is @IbnRiad.
English-language Palestinian Twitter account which reports on news from the Resistance Axis. - Telegram is @EyesOnSouth.
English-language Twitter account in the same group as the previous two. - Telegram here.
English-language PalestineResist telegram channel.
More telegram channels here for those interested.
Russia-Ukraine Conflict
Examples of Ukrainian Nazis and fascists
Examples of racism/euro-centrism during the Russia-Ukraine conflict
Sources:
Defense Politics Asia’s youtube channel and their map. Their youtube channel has substantially diminished in quality but the map is still useful.
Moon of Alabama, which tends to have interesting analysis. Avoid the comment section.
Understanding War and the Saker: reactionary sources that have occasional insights on the war.
Alexander Mercouris, who does daily videos on the conflict. While he is a reactionary and surrounds himself with likeminded people, his daily update videos are relatively brainworm-free and good if you don’t want to follow Russian telegram channels to get news. He also co-hosts The Duran, which is more explicitly conservative, racist, sexist, transphobic, anti-communist, etc when guests are invited on, but is just about tolerable when it’s just the two of them if you want a little more analysis.
Simplicius, who publishes on Substack. Like others, his political analysis should be soundly ignored, but his knowledge of weaponry and military strategy is generally quite good.
On the ground: Patrick Lancaster, an independent and very good journalist reporting in the warzone on the separatists’ side.
Unedited videos of Russian/Ukrainian press conferences and speeches.
Pro-Russian Telegram Channels:
Again, CW for anti-LGBT and racist, sexist, etc speech, as well as combat footage.
https://t.me/aleksandr_skif ~ DPR’s former Defense Minister and Colonel in the DPR’s forces. Russian language.
https://t.me/Slavyangrad ~ A few different pro-Russian people gather frequent content for this channel (~100 posts per day), some socialist, but all socially reactionary. If you can only tolerate using one Russian telegram channel, I would recommend this one.
https://t.me/s/levigodman ~ Does daily update posts.
https://t.me/patricklancasternewstoday ~ Patrick Lancaster’s telegram channel.
https://t.me/gonzowarr ~ A big Russian commentator.
https://t.me/rybar ~ One of, if not the, biggest Russian telegram channels focussing on the war out there. Actually quite balanced, maybe even pessimistic about Russia. Produces interesting and useful maps.
https://t.me/epoddubny ~ Russian language.
https://t.me/boris_rozhin ~ Russian language.
https://t.me/mod_russia_en ~ Russian Ministry of Defense. Does daily, if rather bland updates on the number of Ukrainians killed, etc. The figures appear to be approximately accurate; if you want, reduce all numbers by 25% as a ‘propaganda tax’, if you don’t believe them. Does not cover everything, for obvious reasons, and virtually never details Russian losses.
https://t.me/UkraineHumanRightsAbuses ~ Pro-Russian, documents abuses that Ukraine commits.
Pro-Ukraine Telegram Channels:
Almost every Western media outlet.
https://discord.gg/projectowl ~ Pro-Ukrainian OSINT Discord.
https://t.me/ice_inii ~ Alleged Ukrainian account with a rather cynical take on the entire thing.
Second round of Russia-Ukraine negotiations ended after an hour, Turkey says “non-negative” outcome.
Looking into it more - Ukrainians presented completely unworkable demands that would effectively constitute Russian surrender. Including allowing them to join NATO, no limits on army size, and usage of Russian funds to reconstruct. Not surprising it was over so soon.
A senior Iranian diplomat told Reuters that Iran is working on drafting a negative response to the American nuclear proposal that was delivered to Tehran days ago. Iran’s response can be considered as a rejection of the completely unilateral American offer.
Starting to seem like there won’t be a negotiated settlement. It’s been nearly two months of talk. The question is really whether the entity and its allies are ready to swallow the consequences of a strike on Iranian facilities. I’m not convinced the US administration has the stomach for it…
Confirmed Russian losses due to Ukraine’s “Spiderweb” attack on Russian tactical and strategic bombers.
Part 1, Olenya Airbase:
- 4x Tu-95 burning, severely damaged or destroyed:
- 1x An-12 transport plane burning, severely damaged or destroyed:
- In this photo, you can see that the 1st and 4th Tu-95s got consumed by flames, along with the suspected An-12 on the left
Belaya Airbase:
- 3x Tu-95s and 4x Tu-22M3s severely damaged or destroyed, 1x Tu-95 with some minor damage. I’ll upload the two SAR images once the website allows me to.
Total so far:
- 7x Tu-95 severely damaged or destroyed
- 4x Tu-22M3 severely damaged or destroyed. -1x An-12 severely damaged or destroyed.
- 1x Tu-95 with minor damage.
For a total of 13 aircraft damaged or destroyed, with 12 of them showing signs of severe damage. Ukraine initially claimed 40, but a success rate of 32.5%, or around 1/3, is nothing to scoff at for an attack like this.
- 4x Tu-95 burning, severely damaged or destroyed:
Oggy oggy oggy oi oi oi
Social media users have been drawing comparisons between online support for accused killers Elias Rodriguez, Rodney Hinton Jr. and Luigi Mangione.
“That people who commit murder are receiving any meaningful amount of public support, seemingly because the victims are seen by the murder’s supporters as belonging to the political opposition, is an exceptionally bad sign for our society,” Nicholas Creel, Georgia College and State University ethics professor, told Fox News Digital. “Democracy requires people to be committed to certain values, such as the peaceable resolution of our differences. Without that, we’re at risk for a far wider breakdown in the rule of law, the kind where mass atrocities can easily arise.”
omg you guise, can you imagine if we lived in a world with mass atrocities?
I actually generally agree with the take that people supporting random murder as a form of justice is a sign of severe instability, though of course this dipshit is likely just pearl clutching and fully supports right-wing murderers like Rittenhouse, the cops, and the troops. Never mind that the solutions to this instability (buying people off with the profits of imperial plunder) are impossible under capitalism.
I’d be more concerned about society crumbling if it was a society worth salvaging
Oh, 100% agreed. Unfortunately it’s going to get worse before it gets better.
People still not understanding that most people are peaceful by nature and that support for “violence” is a sign of serious injustices.
The mass atrocities they are referring to are the state sanctioned massacres of protestors that will be coming
This is probably the reason why they are not trying to create a media frenzy with the 2 diplomats killed
There are rational structural reasons for why these people acted in this way. Hyperfocusing on the act and not the motives is just another way the media tries to deflect from these systemic issues.
No it’s a good sign actually. It’s a sing that people care enough about the rest of us to altruistically punish those who should be punished. If enough people act in this way, it brings stability because there would be consequences to certain actions.
memorial day is, of course, not related
The best case scenario is if the mostly online support given to these guys, due to anonymity, eventually jumps out into real life and affects real world politics somehow. Like how that outright super racist shit that you used to only see online becoming more prominent and real life, but like, for us.
The thing is that trump can’t arbitrate between the bourgeoisie and his lower-middle class voter base indefinitely (see the H1B shit). We already know he’s going to side with his class interest and hang them out to dry. They won’t magically become leftists or anything, but it will provide and opening (that nobody will size because the left doesn’t exist in the US, but it will be interesting).
The US-backed concentration camp “aid distribution” scheme in Gaza appears to have collapsed within hours, as crowds became “uncontrollable” and US mercenaries opened fire on the crowds before fleeing. The Palestinian people who the scheme had intended to trap and murder have torn down the camp and seized the aid that was being used as bait. Zionist helicopters have reportedly opened fire into the crowds of people. Very recent and developing situation.
The chapo episode from 23/5 with Grim and Scahill (of Dropsite news) talked about their reporting that this was always the intention. Use the aid (which was to be given to politically vetted individuals) to lure people into a controllable region and then either forcibly displace them or kill them if the optics were “good” enough.
Netanyahu has been openly talking about this to Israeli media per the reporting. I can’t time stamp it, but it’s within the first 25 minutes of 936. If others have more easily citable sources please link them.
Direct link to episode (warning: this bootleg feeds is hosted on an audio porn site).
meet the old boss
lol offering deals they never had any intention of making and had hoped(expected) Hamas to reject so when they do get accepted they have to lie
I like flagging this kind of thing for the libs in my life. “you might be sad about president trump, but you’ll be happy to know that he’s continuing biden’s policies at least”
IOF babykiller gets wrecked by Irish MMA fighter who screams “Free Palestine” while delivering crushing blows to the nazi’s skull.
Everyone should aspire to be compared to Yahya al Sinwar after “sending zionist dogs to hell.”
Screen grab from an Iranian TV segment on Elias Rodriguez who denazified two zionazi embassy staffers last week.
Gaza’s youngest influencer aged 11 among children killed by Israeli [sic] strikes | The Guardian
Yaqeen Hammad offered tips for surviving in war zone and is one of dozens of minors who have died in recent attacks
I really hope the Israeli government doesn’t get away with this genocide. There has to be justice for the sake of all the kids they killed.
Don’t let up on spreading hatred of israel for their crimes of genocide and apartheid. We have to make them into a genuine pariah state, so that even if it becomes truly too late to save Gaza, we can still punish israel and hopefully save West Bank from the same fate.
If we do this right, the brightest possible future israel could hope for is to become the OJ Simpson of countries.
There are enough Palestinians around the world to restore a sovereign Palestine, should zio-nazis manage to kill everyone in gaza & the west bank, which I hope god-forbid doesnt happen. The moment the cost to maintain israel is to high, is the moment that colony falls.
The west wont cease its support due to moral outrage, just like israel was created due to cynical western power motives, its end will spring from the same source.
Moral outrage can feed into cynical motives though. Unruly populaces doing constant unrest and boycotts put a thumb one one side of the scales in those calculations.
unrest and boycotts are one of the factors increasing the cost for maintaining Israel, the ICJ ruling is another - because if whitey cant use the moral high ground to scold those evil asians and russians, then liberalism is done for. But in general, I think, moral outrage is not a strong enough catalyst for mass sedition. After all something is moral when it is in alignment with ones material interests and the treats in the west have been getting every more meagre.
Unfathomably evil. Silence on the matter when the genocide is this loudly broadcasted is approval, anyone who refuses to speak out against “Israel” because “it’s complicated” is running smoke and mirrors to obfuscate that they believe this is acceptable.
In one social media post, Yaqeen wrote: “I try to bring a bit of joy to the other children so that they can forget the war.”
On Friday night, she was killed after a series of heavy Israeli airstrikes hit the house where she lived with her family, in Al-Baraka area of Deir al-Bala, in central Gaza. Her body, torn apart by the bombing, was recovered from beneath the rubble.
RuLeS-bAsEd iNtErNaTiOnAL oRdEr
May she rest in peace. She sounds like she was a wonderful person, taken far too soon, and even if she wasn’t a wonderful person no child should ever feel the need to make such content, nor should being a victim of an ongoing genocide even be a possibility. Utterly deplorable, I hope in 500 years historians look upon this era as one of the last truly brutal ages for mankind, and that this never happens again.
Ryanair cancels 200,000 plane tickets to occupied Palestine after extending flight suspensions.
Earlier this month, Ryanair Chief Executive Michael O’Leary said his airline was “losing patience” with security disruptions at Ben Gurion Airport and may consider diverting aircraft to service alternative destinations.
“I think we’re running out of patience too with Israel… flights to and from Tel Aviv,” O’Leary told analysts following the release of full-year results.
“If they’re going to keep being disrupted by these security disruptions, frankly, we’d be better off sending those aircraft somewhere else in Europe,” he said.
apparently someone set some zionists in colorado on fire. thats really terrible it’s awful that they experienced what israel has been doing to Palestinian children for the past several decades. really really sad. i’m actually upset, i actually feel really upset now.
I am at the point where I no longer know what to say in regards to the news coming out of Gaza. Anything I could say does no justice to the horrors of what is happening here. I feel numb and my lack of words reflects that. This is just as much of an American genocide as it is an Israeli one. I’m not exactly young, but this has crossed the point of being the most evil thing the US has done in my lifetime (saying this as someone who organized protests against the invasion of Iraq in 2003).
